I once had an attorney I work with call me from Court to ask me for the client's phone number. I told her I'm on the beach, call our paralegal to help you.

I can totally relate to non-emergencies that become emergencies.

Additionally, I'm her supervising attorney. Why she had to call me for that task I'm not sure when we have lots of staff that were working and could readily help her.

Was someone going to die if they didn't speak directly to you right then?

Tell whoever to NEVER give out your personal cell# again. Claim the time worked, and add it to another day off.

Don't make such a big deal out of your next round of time off. Keep simple. "I will be unavailable from this day to this day. As usual Johnny will be your contact person during that time."

Out of office reply:

I am unavailable until X day. Please contact Johnny using this email or this cell #.

Then enjoy your holiday.

Anonymous wrote:I’m not understanding who these people are.

I’m a lawyer and we’re basically never totally off grid. I would want someone to call me if there was a quick question or an issue with a client. Are these subordinates? If they are abusing your good will, I would make sure their evaluation reflects that. If they are clients, that is more tricky. If they are bosses, that’s challenging and maybe time to consider a new job.

So, I'm a legal secretary and that would never happen at my law firm - receptionists don't even have lawyers cell phone numbers. If a client called me with an issue and my attorney had gone off grid, they'd have allocated another attorney to handle whatever came up and I'd direct the client to the attorney covering. I don't think OP works at a law firm.

I would let it go to voicemail and decide whether to respond from there. I really don’t mind answering a question or two on vacation because it usually means less work for me in the long run. Not sure if you have that kind of job, though.

Knowing who the people are changes everything about this question.

Your boss? This is life. Get a new job or deal, unfortunately. Or you can try to set boundaries ("Oh, I won't be answering my phone on vacation") but you'll be risking your job. You could also try the old "oh, the place I'm going has no cell service" canard.

Someone else above you in the food chain? It may be worth a conversation with your boss about what happened and how you might be able to avoid it or better deal with it next time. Otherwise, same as above.

Someone at a similar level to you? You need to have a conversation with them when you're back in the office and figure out where the disconnect was, and if they don't get it, you need to escalate to your boss.

Your subordinates? This is your fault. Training issue. You should be having serious discussions with them about how their actions were inappropriate and reviewing the appropriate steps they should have taken. And you need to reiterate this before your next trip.

Clients? This is the toughest. Has a lot to do with company culture, the nature of their requests, the importance of the client, and how "replaceable" you are. But this feels fixable, and probably you should start with the policies and training around front desk staff giving out personal cell phone numbers - this shouldn't happen and it's hard to imagine that giving a client who didn't already have it your cell number when you're on vacation was the right call.

Anonymous wrote:Help me shame them or get them fired.

I got back from an 8 day trip yesterday that was the first time I'd taken more than two work days off in a row since 2020. Office was given 11 months notice. Alert was sent to contacts a month before with an 'instruction' sheet on what to do without me.

And I set an out of office to the effect of "I am on vacation and without access to work email and work phone. Please contact XXX in my absence and be sure to reply all for team visibilty. Otherwise, I will respond to your note ~ July 7th/8th"


Two people called our main number a half dozen times claiming emergency and our front desk gave them my cell. They then called me a combined 13 times while I was on vacation. This was after I sternly told them they were out of bounds and I'd speak with thm in a week. But they kept up with the "but this will just take a second..."

Would you just not take PTO for those days?

Tell the front desk never to give out your cell again.

The front desk should have gone to your boss. He/She handles it. Even our CEO has the COO as back up. Everyone has someone that they report to and someone that can at least confirm if it's an emergency, and if you actually need to be contacted.

Anonymous wrote:I’m not understanding who these people are.

I’m a lawyer and we’re basically never totally off grid. I would want someone to call me if there was a quick question or an issue with a client. Are these subordinates? If they are abusing your good will, I would make sure their evaluation reflects that. If they are clients, that is more tricky. If they are bosses, that’s challenging and maybe time to consider a new job.

Also a lawyer and this is a you thing not a "we" thing. I have been completely offline for plenty of vacations. Including traveling places with no or very limited cell service. It depends on your own style and boundaries and your workplace.

I don't charge leave for any hours I work when ok vacation as I have to do my time card by hours.

Anonymous wrote:In what line of work are you? Are you head is surgery at a hospital? In charge of critical national security? Do you relish being the go-to person and not empowering others? Something feels off here.

And what were the “emergencies?”

This. You need to learn to not answer. Unless you job involves life or death situations it’s not an “emergency”

Anonymous wrote:This is such an American behavior. Just don’t pick up the phone: you’re on vacation.

Newsflash: we’re in America. This is an American website. In fact, it’s actually centered on the capital region of the United States. So you really don’t have to remind anyone of where we are before responding.

Anonymous wrote:This is such an American behavior. Just don’t pick up the phone: you’re on vacation.

This. Let your phone go to VM. If it's an emergency, they will leave one. This is partly your fault.

Anonymous wrote:100 percent you claw back some of your leave-bare minimum of one full day or two hours per day each day they called. More if you had to interrupt your vacation for more than a few minutes.

This is a terrible idea unless your company has that as a policy. (My husbands company policy is that if you work more than 4 hours on a leave day, it doesn’t count as leave.). But I do think if these are subordinates they should be written up for lack of judgment about what is an emergency and failure to follow instructions. If it’s a peer, I might bring it to their supervisor with the same complaint.

In what line of work are you? Are you head is surgery at a hospital? In charge of critical national security? Do you relish being the go-to person and not empowering others? Something feels off here.

And what were the “emergencies?”

This is such an American behavior. Just don’t pick up the phone: you’re on vacation.